wood. I liked the food and the coffee. I loved how it felt to ride out over the open land and witness the incredible beauty that just existed without being cultivated or messed with. It felt right.
And so did my time with Sawyer.
We all settled down around the fire to wait for the food and relax after the long day. Everything was calm until my father commented on how cold the weather had gotten.
“It really has,” Rubin said. “Jane and Sawyer had to get it on just to keep warm.”
The group went quiet. Rubin grinned mischievously and Cecilia gasped beside me. I felt the color drain from my face as my father turned to stare at me.
Everything went to hell very quickly after that. Tempers flared as my father jumped to his feet and launched into Sawyer.
Sawyer seemed irritated, the way one of the horses would be by a fly buzzing around its eyes, but the more my father ranted, the more that seemed to turn to anger. On the other side of the fire, Colt looked exasperated, scowling at his brother.
I was humiliated.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Dad demanded. “How dare you touch my daughter?”
That immediately got me defensive and I stepped into the fray.
“That’s enough,” I said. “I’m not a little girl you get to claim. I’m a grown-ass woman. My decisions aren’t going to be made for me by the expectations of others. Not anymore. And let me remind you, coming out here was your idea. You are the one who forced me out onto this ranch so I could learn what you think of as good old-fashioned values.”
“That’s right,” Dad said, clearly thinking I had made an argument in his support.
“Well, Sawyer seems pretty damn valuable to me. He’s a far better man that any of those suit-wearing, briefcase-toting, man-splaining idiots back in California.”
With that, I turned and stormed away into the bunkhouse.
Chapter 27
Sawyer
The first thought that ran through my mind was that Cass was going to kill me.
The second thought was that Jane thought I was a valuable and good man.
I seesawed between being worried and grinning like an idiot after she stormed off, knowing that she felt like that about me just edging past the uncertainty and anxiety about how my brothers would react.
Colt seemed especially displeased, and I knew it was primarily because we had just talked about all that. Not to mention that I didn’t keep it in my pants long enough that they would be long gone before the news spilled, and now I was facing a very angry old man, who would very likely not be giving us a whole lot of stars on our review.
I could see it now. “One out of five. Great scenery. Beautiful horses. Man-whore cowboy. Would not recommend.”
I shook my head, trying to hide my grin. It was wildly inappropriate, considering the circumstances, but it was hard not to. Cass was, for sure, going to string me up for this, and Walter would go blue in the face, whipping out curse words I was fairly certain were half made up, eventually just giving up and sitting with his arms crossed and glaring at me.
Sighing, Colt stood up. “All right, well, thank you for stirring the pot, Rubin.”
“Don’t you blame me,” he said. “I didn’t—”
Colt held his palms up and raised his voice over the protests of all three Beauchamp men. “Hold on. I didn’t place blame. I’m just saying there might have been a better way of handling that, is all. When you work on a ranch, you learn how to be diplomatic with people you have to sleep near. That’s what I’m getting at. I could complain all damn day about you farting in your sleep, but it won’t get us any closer to being happy, would it?”
In spite of the heated exchange, Lucien laughed and then sighed and kicked at the dirt, clearly trying to return to being mad. Rubin had the presence of mind to at least look a little sheepish and embarrassed. Cecelia was curled up on her log, a cup of coffee in her hand and her eyes wide like she was watching the latest episode of a TV drama.
But Walter was still staring daggers at me.
I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. I wasn’t afraid of the old man, but I knew enough to at least pretend like I felt sorry.
I didn’t though. Not really.
“So as far as all this goes, I think it’s best if we